Oh my...

I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for not posting on this blog. I almost completely forgot about it. I will definitely be trying to do better about posting on this blog. I am doing a "Verse of the Day" on my blog every week day so I will post those on here also. (Assuming I remember;)) Well, hope you all have a great day:)

It's Been Awhile...

If you read our blog, you've probably noticed that Breanna and I haven't posted in awhile. I had previously been good about posting 5 times a month, but lately, that hasn't happened. I only did one post in September, and this is my first one this month. I guess you could say that high school has officially caught up with Breanna and me. We've been busy this semester with sports and school, but hopefully we'll be better about posting soon. I only have one week of cross country left.

Ironically, I had been working on a September post about priorities. I guess mine haven't exactly been in order lately, but it's something I've been praying about.

A passage I've been meditating on lately is Ephesians 1:3-6:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Our Sunday school teacher has been teaching on this the past couple weeks, and the phrase "to the praise of the glory of His grace" has been our main focus. Everything we do should be to give glory to God. This thought is very convicting to me. No matter what we do, God should guide us.

Trust

If you have ready many of my posts on this blog, you probably know that one of the things I am worst about is worrying. I have done numerous posts about doubt, worry, fear, etc., but I realized that dwelling on the negative things wasn't the best way to stop worrying. I need to focus on the positive things. So the opposite of worry is trust. Trusting in God for anything and everything and taking all your worries and fears to Him.

So, as I start high school tomorrow, I will be meditating on all these verses about trust.

*"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6

*“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD."

Jeremiah 17:7

*"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid."

Isaiah 12:2

*"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

*"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
In God... I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?"

Psalm 56:3

*"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8

I Will Go

I stumbled upon the lyrics to the song "I Will Go" in a new hymn book I bought the other day. I had never heard the song before, but I started playing it on the piano and I absolutely love both the words and music. I thought it was a great song to meditate on as I get ready to start school tomorrow.

I Will Go

Give me ears to hear Your Spirit
Give me feet to follow through
Give me hands to touch the hurting
And the faith to follow You

Give me grace to be a servant
Give me mercy for the lost
Give me passion for Your glory
Give me passion for the cross

And I will go where there are no easy roads
Leave the comforts that I know
I will go and let this journey be my home
I will go
I will go

I'll let go of my ambition
Cut the roots that run too deep
I will learn to give away
What I cannot really keep
What I cannot really keep

Help me see with eyes of faith
Give me strength to run this race

I will go Lord where Your glory is unknown
I will live for You alone
I will go because my life is not my own
I will go
I will go
I will go

*Words and music by Steve Green and Douglas McKelvey*

John 15:7

John 15:7 ~ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

I thought this verse was a good one to go along with Psalm 119:11. It was a reminder to me that no matter what, we must keep reading God's word and praying to Him. Even when our present circumstances aren't going the way we want, if we are abiding in God, they will work together for good.

If we abide in God, our desires will be concentric with His will, which is why God can promise that we can ask what we desire and it will be done. That's about all the thoughts I have for this verse, but I hope it encourages you today :)

Only You

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.”
~Psalm 124:2-3

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep."
~Psalm 127:1-2

I have been reading through Psalms in my devotions, and these two passages caught my eye. I know that we hear all the time, "Only the Lord can truly satisfy." But these two passages really convicted me that not only is He the only One who satisfies, He is the only One who makes anything worthwhile. Unless our goal is to glorify God, and unless He is the one we look to for help, we will lose the battle we are fighting, even if it seems like we are winning for a little while.

That is the beautiful thing about being a Christian! We already know that we're on the winning team! God has already promised that He will have the final victory! So from now on, I am going to try to remember to only trust in God as my leader. No matter how many earthly leaders I have, I ultimately answer only to God!

Character Lesson: Nehemiah's Good Attitude

I did a post last year on Nehemiah and talked about his perseverance. Our Sunday school teacher did a lesson on it a couple weeks ago and another character trait that jumped out at me was Nehemiah's good attitude. Nehemiah 2: 1-2a says, "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

The king noticed Nehemiah's sadness only because it was not a regular occurrence. The king was Nehemiah's boss and leader, and Nehemiah made it a point to always look happy around the king.

This thought was very convicting to me. I know that there are days when I do not go to school or even church with a happy look on my face. But Nehemiah chose to do this and was used in great ways by God.

Smiling is such a little thing, but it can make a big difference. Because Nehemiah chose to smile whenever he could, the king noticed his sadness and he was able to rebuild his city. When you choose to smile, you could brighten someone else's day. Smile at the cashier at the grocery store, or smile at your teacher, or smile at someone who looks sad and could use a friend.

You may not even know of the difference you made, but trust me, it will make a difference.

:)

Just Keep Swimming

I borrowed my title for this post from Dori off Finding Nemo :)

I have written some about perseverance before, but I usually talked about perseverance in big things. But lately, I've found that perseverance in small things is just as much of a challenge. My example would be reading my Bible. I have read my Bible every day this year since January 1st. But I haven't always followed my reading plan. Some days I've read just one or two chapters, using the excuse that I'm too tired to do more (I read my Bible at night usually). But then I stopped to think: "If I can get up to go to cross country practice at 6:30 in the morning in the summertime and run for almost an hour, then why can't I read 3 or 4 chapters in my Bible every night?" So, at that point, I made a commitment. I will read the "assigned" chapters in my Bible every day. If I can make time every day to read my Bible, I might as well read all the chapters that I'm supposed to. After all, if I don't, I'll just have to read extra chapters the next day in order to finish reading through the Bible in a year.

Speaking from personal experience, it's much better to persevere through a trial or struggle then to take the easy way out and have to deal with your conscience later.

Here's two verses and a quote that I think are good for thought and inspiration.

• Romans 5:3-4~Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
• Hebrews 12:1~Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
• Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

Praying God's Word

The last (but certainly not least) book that I will be talking about this month is Praying God's Word by Beth Moore. Before I started reading this book, I had never really thought about the principle before, but Beth Moore discusses the importance of our prayers lining up with what God's Word says.

The Bible tells us that God desires for us to pray. He wants us to pray to Him. But so often, our prayers focus only on ourselves and our desires. If we are praying what God's Word says, though, we cannot really go wrong in what we are asking.

Praying God's Word is divided into several different chapters. Each chapter deals with a different stronghold that Christians may face. Beth Moore has found verses that deal with each stronghold, and shows us how to pray for each one.

I love this book for my prayer life, and it is also a good resource to use as a kind of "topical index" to find verses about different things.

A lot of times, as Christians, we fall behind in our prayer lives, so if you are looking for a boost, I recommend this book.

Hope you enjoy!

My God is Near

This song is very comforting to me. I hope it is to you too.

My God is Near

Verse 1. Make me know Your presence, Lord, the King of glory here. You know each tho't and action, hope, anxiety and fear. How can I hide from Thee? Can darkness hide iniquity? Oh, how can I unfaithful be, when You are very near (are near) to me?

Verse 2. Make me know Your presence, Lord, when I feel so alone. You know each trial and testing, pain, the hurt that is "unknown." Oh, why can I not see Your hand so firmly guiding me? Oh, how can I untrusting be, when You are very near (are near) to me?

Chorus. When Go is near (is near), all the world seems far away. When God is near (is near), ev'ry fear is set aside. When God is near (is near), how can I stray, how can I faltar? I'll stay upon the altar. I know my God i near!